Nothing has come easy for the Oshkosh West girls basketball team this season. From injuries to coming out on the short end of close games all year, the Wildcats perhaps have been tested more mentally than physically.

Appleton North tacked on another one Friday night.

Marissa Edwards had a game-high 13 points for the Wildcats, but Appleton North closed the game on a 12-1 run to pull away for a 42-28 victory in a Fox Valley Association girls basketball game Friday night on Steven L. Randall Court.

"I think we played three quarters of basketball tonight, and once we put four quarters together it will be great to see," coach Niki Sutter said.

Sydney Levy scored nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lightning (9-8, 9-4 FVA).

"It just keeps (hurting) our momentum I think, it's like we finally won (against Fond du Lac Tuesday) and now we lost, I hope we can just come back from it," Edwards said.

Finding a regular starting lineup and roles for reserve players has been anything but easy for Oshkosh West this season.

The Wildcats (4-13, 4-9 FVA) have been battling injuries throughout the season. Rachel Christopherson has only played a handful of games this year and McKenna Fassbinder, Amber Tigert and Emily Jacques -- who along with Christopherson did not play Friday -- have all missed time this season dealing with injuries.

Oshkosh West still hasn't had a single practice this season with their full varsity roster.

"Every practice we walk in not knowing who's going to play where and who's going to do what, and I think our team as a whole has really stepped up this year with that," Edwards said.

They haven't made that as an excuse however, but it's been taxing on the team at times.

"We're at the point in the season where this should be a turning point in the season for us, but we're really young, and obviously that's no excuse but we're still getting used to each other," Allison Nelson said.

For 25 minutes Friday, things looked like they were starting to come together.

The Lightning raced out to a 19-8 advantage through the first quarter and into the start of the second, but Edwards and the Wildcats fought back.

A layup from Edwards followed by a layup from Nelson and a three-point play from Edwards brought the Wildcats to within four late in the second quarter.

"We talk to (Edwards) all the time about playing in 'beast mode' and it's always the other team's game plan to stop her," Sutter said. "I thought Emily Roberts did a great job of getting her the ball despite having two defenders on her."

They were just getting started.

West went on a methodical 7-0 run spanning 4 minutes, 46 seconds of the third quarter to take its first lead of the game at 23-22 after Edwards drilled a jump shot.

"Defensively, people knew their assignments and offensively I thought we were moving the ball better and getting some looks inside because of our ball movement," Sutter said.

After a timeout from Appleton North, Callie Pohlman connected from 3-point range to take the lead back.

Emma Guenther converted on a layup to tie things back up at 25-all, but the Lightning scored the final four points of the third quarter and wouldn't trail again.

"We've been able to come back against some teams, but Appleton North credit to them they're a really good team and they have balanced scoring," Sutter said. "They executed and we didn't."

Edwards hit another jump shot — West's final field goal of the game — early in the fourth quarter to get within two, but the Wildcats went 0-for-10 from the field the rest of the way.

Oshkosh West's defense was solid throughout, but Appleton North's execution in the fourth quarter was better.

The Lightning shot 14-for-33 (42 percent) from the field, but made their final three shot attempts and all four of their free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.